They came by the thousands down the highway from Canada dressed proudly in new swag blue to watch the Jays play the M's. It felt like an extra home game for the Jays. They sang the anthem they chanted names they outhustled they out-cheered they out-fanned the home side.

The fans definitely made a difference on Monday night as the Jays beat the M's 3-1 for their second win in a row evening their record at 3-3 on this difficult west coast swing.Recall it was a very similar scenario last season with the swarm of Jays fans at the end of July at the trade deadline. The results were different however as the M's swept in a series of unfortunate incidents.

By the end of three games the Jays fans were sneaking out of town. The team had pulled Seattle's own Travis Snider from the field during an inning and traded him to Pittsburgh for Brad Lincoln. They they dealt fellow outfielder Eric Thames to the M's for Steve Delabar. And over those three days Jose Bautista discovered his injured wrist was worse than thought and left the team.

On Monday it was a pitchers' duel right from the start with knuckleballer R.A. Dickey facing Japanese all-star Hisashi Iwakuma in the first of three at Safeco Field. Dickey pitched 7 2/3 strong innings allowing one run on eight hits with two walks and five strikeouts. It was Dickey's first victory in six starts since Canada Day against the Tigers and his 13th quality start of the year.